The Show Must Go On
I had to give a speech at Toastmasters last week. For those of you that don't know TM is a club where people can learn better communication and leadership skills. We do this by giving speeches,practicing extemporaneous speaking and taking leadership roles within the club. Every Thursday I drive into Wisconsin for the seven AM meeting.
I was looking forward to the speech. It was one I had given before, last fall. I was showing off my new dulcimer that I had bought in Door County about a month before. I thought I could do a better job and not many people came to the first speech so I thought I'd do it again.
It was a busy week at work so I had almost no practice time. I wasn't worried though, I had done this before and had planned out what to say. I just needed to practice a song I wanted to play and write out an introduction and outline. I did both on Tuesday before the speech. The only thing that needed to be done was to tune the dulcimer.
C agreed to tune it for me. It has 58 strings and while each set of two strings is tuned to the same note, it is still a daunting task for me. Added to this is the fact that I can't tell if a string is sharp or flat unless it is way out of tune. C can do this better and faster.
We had Jake, Mariah and Patrick over for dinner Wednesday evening. It was quite late by the time C got around to tuning. I had to get to bed and left him to his work.
In the morning I got up a bit early so I could pack the car. C had thoughtfully cased the instrument for me. I packed up the stand and the music stand. I put my lesson book in my TM carry bag along with my note cards. I loaded up the car, filled my travel mug with some hot coffee, kissed C goodbye and headed off.
Twenty minutes later I was in the parking lot of the building we meet in. I carried the dulcimer upstairs and left it on a table. I went downstairs to get the stands and coffee. I was on the second flight of stairs when it hit me. I forgot to pack the hammers. It's a hammered dulcimer for heaven's sake! How could I forget the stupid hammers!
Patricia and Greg were upstairs and I told them what happened. Obviously, I couldn't go home to get them. They suggested that I call C and see if I could meet him halfway and pick up the hammers. I called him. He was just getting up and had to get to work. He couldn't do it. Dang!
What was I going to do? There was only one speaker, me. I couldn't give a speech about a musical instrument without playing it. I thought of the line from "Singin' in the Rain" "What's the first thing an actor learns. 'The show must go on!' Come rain,come shine,come snow,come sleet,the show MUST go on!" The same thing applies to Toastmasters. There had to be a way.
C had told me to try playing with pencils. I didn't have any pencils, but I did have two gel ink roller ball pens. I pulled them out of my purse and held them like the hammers. The weight felt all right. They has rubberized grips that I could strike the strings with. I set the dulcimer on it's stand and played a scale. Not bad, sounded pretty good. It would be a bit tricky as I had to make sure I hit only the strings I wanted and not the ones I didn't, but I could play with them.
I started my speech by explaining that I had forgot the hammers that are used to play the instrument and would be using a pair of ink pens instead. Then I started my speech. I did all right until I got to the part about the hammers. I described them as best I could. I wanted to show the difference in the sound using the padded and plain hammers. I couldn't duplicate that with the pens. I did my best.
When I started to play a scale my hands began to shake. Normally this is no big deal and I can play just fine. This time though, it was a problem. My notes were not nice and clean like they normally are. When your striking surface is only one fourth inch , there is only so much you can do. I played "Are You Sleeping?". It went all right, but my shaking hands and the fact that I was getting nervous didn't help.
I finished the speech and happily sat down. It was not one of my better presentations. I did hope that it taught a good lesson to the several new club members that we have. Sometimes the show has to go on and you have to do your best with what you have. Next time though, I'll remember the hammers.....
I was looking forward to the speech. It was one I had given before, last fall. I was showing off my new dulcimer that I had bought in Door County about a month before. I thought I could do a better job and not many people came to the first speech so I thought I'd do it again.
It was a busy week at work so I had almost no practice time. I wasn't worried though, I had done this before and had planned out what to say. I just needed to practice a song I wanted to play and write out an introduction and outline. I did both on Tuesday before the speech. The only thing that needed to be done was to tune the dulcimer.
C agreed to tune it for me. It has 58 strings and while each set of two strings is tuned to the same note, it is still a daunting task for me. Added to this is the fact that I can't tell if a string is sharp or flat unless it is way out of tune. C can do this better and faster.
We had Jake, Mariah and Patrick over for dinner Wednesday evening. It was quite late by the time C got around to tuning. I had to get to bed and left him to his work.
In the morning I got up a bit early so I could pack the car. C had thoughtfully cased the instrument for me. I packed up the stand and the music stand. I put my lesson book in my TM carry bag along with my note cards. I loaded up the car, filled my travel mug with some hot coffee, kissed C goodbye and headed off.
Twenty minutes later I was in the parking lot of the building we meet in. I carried the dulcimer upstairs and left it on a table. I went downstairs to get the stands and coffee. I was on the second flight of stairs when it hit me. I forgot to pack the hammers. It's a hammered dulcimer for heaven's sake! How could I forget the stupid hammers!
Patricia and Greg were upstairs and I told them what happened. Obviously, I couldn't go home to get them. They suggested that I call C and see if I could meet him halfway and pick up the hammers. I called him. He was just getting up and had to get to work. He couldn't do it. Dang!
What was I going to do? There was only one speaker, me. I couldn't give a speech about a musical instrument without playing it. I thought of the line from "Singin' in the Rain" "What's the first thing an actor learns. 'The show must go on!' Come rain,come shine,come snow,come sleet,the show MUST go on!" The same thing applies to Toastmasters. There had to be a way.
C had told me to try playing with pencils. I didn't have any pencils, but I did have two gel ink roller ball pens. I pulled them out of my purse and held them like the hammers. The weight felt all right. They has rubberized grips that I could strike the strings with. I set the dulcimer on it's stand and played a scale. Not bad, sounded pretty good. It would be a bit tricky as I had to make sure I hit only the strings I wanted and not the ones I didn't, but I could play with them.
I started my speech by explaining that I had forgot the hammers that are used to play the instrument and would be using a pair of ink pens instead. Then I started my speech. I did all right until I got to the part about the hammers. I described them as best I could. I wanted to show the difference in the sound using the padded and plain hammers. I couldn't duplicate that with the pens. I did my best.
When I started to play a scale my hands began to shake. Normally this is no big deal and I can play just fine. This time though, it was a problem. My notes were not nice and clean like they normally are. When your striking surface is only one fourth inch , there is only so much you can do. I played "Are You Sleeping?". It went all right, but my shaking hands and the fact that I was getting nervous didn't help.
I finished the speech and happily sat down. It was not one of my better presentations. I did hope that it taught a good lesson to the several new club members that we have. Sometimes the show has to go on and you have to do your best with what you have. Next time though, I'll remember the hammers.....
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